Your Humble Scribe

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Be alert for a southbound stampede of brass monkeys.

You know, there's nothing quite like watching an 18-wheeler roll sideways down an overpass embankment to jazz up your morning.Kind of makes coffee look like mama's milk.Despite a) Being in North Texas, and b)Global Warming, things have been bloody cold and slick around here for the past weekend or so. Had a good, stiff cold evening before the freezing rain hit -- which kind of guaranteed the maximum Slippery Quotient Possible.There should be huge signs about twenty miles out in all directions that say:We're Doing Our Best, But Who The Hell Expects Ice In Texas, For God's Sake?--signed, Texas Dept. of Transportation, Highway Division.Wrecks everywhere. One of our rookie deputies wrinkled his Durango a bit. That'll be good for about six months of hell. The truck driver who tumbled his rig down the slope swears up-and-down that he's driven the last twelve winters in Colorado with no problems. Heh. That's Texas for you.It's warming up a bit, but we're looking at a bit of a chance for some snow long about Thursday or Friday. Joy.Your Humble Correspondent spent last weekend firmly ensconced in his nice warm house, with a series of hot toddies close by, some good old paperbacks and a shelf full of DVD's. I've got no problem doing it next weekend, too.LawDog

11 comments:

"Your Humble Correspondent spent last weekend firmly ensconced in his nice warm house, with a series of hot toddies close by, some good old paperbacks and a shelf full of DVD's. I've got no problem doing it next weekend, too."

Bastard! I not only was out in the freezing rain, I found my shoes filling up with the ice on the grass as I hustled down the ditch embankment to check on one rollover, before slipping and sliding back up the embankment to...BUST my ever-lovin' rump on the ice-slick bridge. Dang, but my right rotator cuff is sore. Think I'll mend, eventually.

To TXDOT's credit, they got a truck full of sand out there within 30 minutes of my hollerin' on the radio for same, and I really can't ask for any better than that.

Hate to rub it in, but it was beach weather here while you were iced in.

We finally got your frontal system, but it's just a wee sprinkle of cold rain and temps cool enough to be invigorating.

I was in Fort Worth a few years ago when the last ice storm hit in 03-- there was enough ice to skate on in the barracks parking lot at NAS JRB Fort Worth. I really felt sorry for the local LEOs then, dealing with all the traffic snarls on I-20.

All the idiots who can't drive appear to have left Texas (and the rest of the country) to reside in the Northwest. I may be one of those idiots, but Washington state is freezing and folks here seem to faint at the sight of snow...

NW is great fun to...think of what's going on down in TX, and add in slopes like you see in San Francisco for spice. And yes, on the Wet Side of the Cascades, most drivers are totally snow-clueless or hopelessly out of practice. Ick.

Methinks this is one of the nastier winters any of us will see for a bit, regardless of where we are in the country.

My brother who now lives in Houston was supposed to make a run up to Dallas. He's waiting for the weather to clear first. Sure he can drive on snow/ice, having lived far enough North to learn, but when almost no one else can and the road's almost certainly untreated...

kcsteve makes a point. Damned few people can control a car on untreated ice. Ice is about the slickest thing known to man or beast. Even Teflon does not compare. And without traction, you have no control and 'ol Issac Newton is driving at that point, not you. I've lived in Houston dang near all my life, but I've driven in Calgary and in Colorado Springs. The difference is not so much the driver, but the treatment the road has received. TxDOT, at least in the Houston area, HAS NO CLUE how to treat a road. Now maybe up in Dalhart or out in West Texas they might have a clue, but sure as hell not around here.